Night of the Nothing Man

NIGHT OF THE NOTHING MAN

a novella

Christin Haws

Copyright 2013 Christin Haws

Smashwords edition

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Table of Contents

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About the Author

Copyright

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1

Kim Ales was walking to the grocery store when a man with a nothing face tried to kidnap her.

She wasn’t even supposed to be home. Thanksgiving break wasn’t for another three weeks, but a major gas leak had forced the entire college to close while they fixed the leak and investigated the rest of the campus. As a result, students were either sent home or to a hotel Friday morning for a long weekend; the college would re-open on Tuesday.

Kim cut across the park and through the woods to Jackson Street, better known as Dead End Walk, heading towards the grocery store. With her parents out of town (they’d gone to Indianapolis for the weekend a couple hours after her dad picked her up from school and wouldn’t be home until Sunday night), she had no car and the out of season warmth of the day had lulled her into thinking that walking was better than asking one of her friends for a ride. The sun was setting and a weather front was moving in. The warmth during the day that felt like summer lingering after curfew was quickly being chased home by an authoritative fall. The wind switched and picked up, sending red, yellow, brown, and orange leaves skittering and swirling past her sneakers as she walked down the sidewalk, the thin gold satin jacket she wore doing little to keep out the chill the breeze carried. The smell of smoke from a pile of burning leaves somewhere in the neighborhood, carried by the aggressive wind, made her nose itch.

As she walked down Dead End Walk, hands jammed as deep in her jeans pockets as they would go, shivering every time the wind ran its fingers through her fluffy dark hair and tickled her neck, Kim cursed herself for not calling Tina or Rachel or Laurie to give her a lift.

A block before Elm Street, someone jumped out of the woods and grabbed her from behind, one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulders.

Kim screamed, not from fear, but from shock. For a few startled seconds she thought it was a joke. People don’t get grabbed off the streets in Carpenter, they just don’t. It had to be someone playing a prank. Kim almost laughed.

And then she felt grass under her sneakers instead of the sidewalk. She was being dragged to the woods.

Terror set in. Kim tried to plant her feet, tried to pull away, tried to claw, elbow, kick, and hit. Whoever held her responded by tightening their grip, but they didn’t make a sound. Kim, on the other hand, screamed for help. She screamed fire, rape, murder, and anything else she could think of as the sidewalk got further away and the woods got closer.

Tires screeched behind them.

Kim screamed louder, hoping that it was help for her and not for the guy trying to kidnap her.

Without warning, she was shoved forward, the guy’s grip finally broken. Kim staggered a few steps and turned around.

Scotty Tate struggled with her attacker. Her mood pendulum swung from fear to anger and Kim jumped into the fray. She grabbed for the guy’s blond hair and missed, catching him on the side of the neck with her nails, leaving angry red tracks in their wake. Changing tactics, Kim landed a blow to his ribs, but it was partially deflected by his elbow. Scotty grabbed the guy’s shirt. Kim grabbed the guy’s arm. Scotty swung on him with his free hand. The guy dodged it. Kim fell to the side, letting go of the guy to keep from getting creamed by Scotty’s punch. With Scotty off balance, the guy used Scotty’s momentum against him, knocking him to the ground.

Kim watched the mystery man sprint into the woods and disappear. She looked over at Scotty. He was on all fours, panting, staring after the man. He looked at Kim.

What the hell was that all about?

Kim shook her head. I have no idea. I was just walking along and this guy leaps out of the woods and grabs me. He would have had me if you hadn’t come along.

Kim glared at the houses across the street. Thanks for nothing.

Since when did we get psychos in this town? Scotty asked no one as he stood up. He held out his hand and helped Kim to her feet. You okay?

Yeah, I think so, she said, rubbing her left shoulder. She was probably going to have a few bruises and might be a little sore the next morning. Her throat felt raw from screaming. What about you? Are you okay?

Yeah, Scotty said, in full alpha male mode. He stood up a little straighter and tried to broaden his narrow shoulders as he looked to the woods again. I’m just sorry the guy got away. Probably some kind of a pervert. He should be locked up for the rest of his life. He looked at Kim. Come on. I’ll give you a ride to the sheriff’s station.

Sheriff’s station? What for?

Scotty laughed. Kim, some guy just attacked you and tried to drag you into the woods. You need to tell the sheriff so they can catch this guy. He’s probably on his way right now to find someone else to snatch.

Nothing happened, though, Kim said, thinking only of being forced to call her parents in Indianapolis and of them driving back home, everyone’s weekend ruined. If they found out that someone had tried to kidnap her, they’d never let her go back to college. Her mother was just that prone to hysterics and her father was just that compliant with her mother because he didn’t want to deal with them. Look, we probably scared him off. He probably won’t do it again now that he knows that people fight back.

You were fighting him when I pulled up and he didn’t seem too discouraged, Scotty said. He gave the sleeve of her jacket a tug. Come on. I’ll go with you.

I don’t want to.

If you don’t, I will.

You can’t do that.

Sure I can. I was a witness. I involved myself in the altercation. As a concerned citizen I feel it’s my duty to report this to the authorities. He ended his schtick by putting his hand on his heart and giving Kim a very sincere look that she didn’t buy for one second. She’d known him too long.

Kim and Scotty had known each other since kindergarten. They’d grown up on opposite sides of town, but were in the same class or classes all the way through school, from kindergarten until senior year. When Kim got accepted to the state college and Scotty decided to stay in town and go to a trade school it was like the end of an era. They really didn’t hang out too much outside of class, but in school they’d been inseparable. Of anyone that could have saved her, Kim was glad it was Scotty. She knew she could depend on her partner in crime.

Fine, she said with extra exasperation. But, listen, my parents are out of town and I do not need them called back because of this. I’m eighteen. I can take care of myself, right?

Scotty held up his hands. I never said anything different and they will not hear one word about this from me so long as the sheriff hears all of the words.

Fine.

The two of them walked to Scotty’s still running car. The maroon two door Cougar was parked half on the curb, rear end out in the non-existent oncoming traffic, driver’s side door hanging open. Kim slid into the passenger seat, the interior just as maroon as the paint job, books and papers scattered across the backseat. Scotty reversed off of the curb and into the correct lane of traffic, and then turned at the first right. The sheriff’s office was back across town, on the south side, the last street before the bypass. Scotty drove in the stop and go traffic produced by stop signs, yield signs, and three stoplights at the busy intersections while Kim stared out the window and replayed the fight in her mind.

One image kept repeating with disturbing clarity. She looked at Scotty, who was focused on the road, stuck behind a school bus doing battle with several sets of railroad tracks.

Did you see his face? she asked.

"Whose face?’

Whose face, Kim repeated, rolling her eyes. Whose face do you think I’m talking about? The creep that tried to grab me. Did you see his face?

Scotty frowned. Yeah, I did.

In the midst of the fight, while this guy was doing his physical damnedest to get away from them, his face showed no emotion. None. No strain, no anger, no fright. It was a perfect